Preprint / Version 1

Examining the psychological characteristics of developing excellence profiles of male English youth soccer players: Differences and commonalities across ages and performance levels

Psychosocial Factors in English Academy Soccer

##article.authors##

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.51224/SRXIV.86

Keywords:

PCDEs, Psychosocial, TID, TDE, Soccer

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate differences in PCDEs across different age groups (U13, U14, U15, U16 and youth team (YT)) and categories of participation (categories 1, 2 and 3 at academy level, and grassroots (GR)) in male English youth soccer players (n = 375). Data was gathered using the PCDE questionnaire version 2 (PCDEQ2). Differences between age groups and categories of participation analysed using the Kruskal-Wallis H test. Across categories of participation highest differences in PCDEs were reported in perfectionistic tendencies (d = .64, p = <0.01, self-directed control and management (d = .63, p = <0.01) and adverse response to failure (d = .58, p = <0.01) with category one players reporting the highest scores. Across age groups, highest differences were also demonstrated in perfectionistic tendencies (d = .57, p = <0.01) and adverse response to failure (d = .49, p = <0.01) with youth team players reporting the highest scores. YT and category one players also demonstrated the highest scores in use of imagery and active preparation (IAP), with category one players also demonstrating the highest and lowest score on use of active coping strategies and presentation of clinical indicators, respectively. The findings of the current study have important implications for key stakeholders involved in the planning and monitoring of a players talent development environment. Careful consideration should be given to identifying and developing players’ psychological characteristics to ensure positive impacts are nurtured throughout their journey.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...

References

Bailey R, Collins D, Ford P, MacNamara A, Toms M and Pearce G (2010) Participant Development in Sport: An Academic Review. Available online Participant Development in Sport: An Academic Review (sportni.net) [accessed 28/2/21]

Barney EG (2015) Preliminary stages in the validation of a talent identification model in cricket. Thesis submitted to Bangor University in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the School of Sport Health and Exercise Sciences

Bergkamp TLG, Niessen ASM, den Hartigh RJR, Frencken WGP and Meijer RM (2019) Methodological Issues in Soccer Talent Identification Research. Sports Medicine 49 p1317 –1335

Cohen JW (1988) Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd Ed), Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Collins DJ and MacNamara A (2012) The Rocky Road to the Top Why Talent Needs Trauma. Sports Medicine 42 (11) p 907 – 914

Collins DJ and MacNamara Á (2017) Making champs and superchamps Current views, contradictions, and future directions. Frontiers in Psychology, 8 p 823

Collins DJ and MacNamara (2017a) A smooth sea never made a skilful sailor: Optimizing and exploiting the rocky road in talent development. Routledge Handbook of Talent Identification and Development in Sport (Eds. Baker J, Cobley S, Schorer J and Wattie N). Chapter 24, p336 – 345. Routledge

Collins DJ & MacNamara A (2018) Talent Development: A Practitioner Guide. Routledge

Collins DJ, MacNamara A and Cruickshank A (2018) Research and Practice in Talent Identification and Development—Some Thoughts on the State of Play, Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 0, p1 – 12

Collins DJ, MacNamara A and McCarthy N (2016) Super Champions, Champions, and Almosts: Important Differences and Commonalities on the Rocky Road. Frontiers in Psychology 6, p1 – 11

Crane M (2018) Comparative success of professional football academies in the top five English leagues during the 2017/18 season. Technical Report https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329245214_COMPARATIVE_SUCCESS_OF_PROFESSIONAL_FOOTBALL_ACADEMIES_IN_THE_TOP_FIVE_ENGLISH_LEAGUES_DURING_THE_201718_SEASON

Dweck CS (2006). Mindset. New York: Random House

efl-youth-development-charter-players-and-parents-guide-2018-19--e-book4.pdf [date accessed 15/7/21]

Elferink-Gemser M, Visscher C, Lemmink, Koen APM and Mulder T (2004) Relation between multidimensional performance characteristics and level of performance in talented youth field hockey players. Journal of sports sciences. 22 p1053 – 1063

Ericsson KA, Krampe RT and Tesch-Römer C (1993) The role of deliberate practice in the acquisition of expert performance. Psychological Review, 100, p363 – 406

Field A (2018) Discovering Statistics using IBM SPSS Statistics. Sage

Gledhill A, Harwood C and Forsdyke, D (2017) Psychosocial factors associated with talent development in football: A systematic review. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 31, p 93 – 112.

Gulbin JP, Croser MJ, Morley EJ and Weissensteiner JR (2013) An integrated framework for the optimisation of sport and athlete development: A practitioner approach. Journal of Sports Sciences, Vol. 31, No. 12, 1319 – 1331

Hagger MS and Smith B (2019) Research Approaches in the Sport, Exercise and Activity Field in Horn TS and Smith AL Advances in Sport and Exercise Psychology 4th ed. Human Kinetics. Chapter 2, p17 - 36

Hill A, MacNamara A and Collins DJ (2019) Development and initial validation of the Psychological Characteristics of Developing Excellence Questionnaire version 2 (PCDEQ2). European Journal of Sport Science; 19 (4): p517 – 528

Hill AP, Mallinson-Howard SH and Jowett, GE (2018) Multidimensional Perfectionism in Sport: A Meta-Analytical Review. Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology, 7 (3) p 235 - 270

https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSLVMB_23.0.0/spss/tutorials/fac_telco_kmo_01.html [date accessed 24/6/20]

Jonker J, Elferink-Gemser MT, Toering TT, Lyons J and Visscher C (2010) Academic performance and self-regulatory skills in elite youth soccer players. Journal of Sports Sciences, 28 (14) p1605 – 1614

Kelly AL, Williams CA and Wilson M (2018) Developing a football-specific talent identification and development profiling concept – The Locking Wheel Nut Model. Applied Coaching Research Journal, 2 p32 – 41

Koopman T, Faber I, Baker J and Schorer J (2020) Assessing Technical Skills in Talented Youth Athletes: A Systematic Review. Sports Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-020-01299-4

Larkin P, O’Connor D and Williams AM (2015) Perfectionism and sport-specific engagement in elite youth soccer players. Journal of Sport Sciences p1 - 8

Larkin P and Reeves MJ (2018): Junior-elite football: time to reposition talent identification? Soccer & Society. DOI: 10.1080/14660970.2018.1432389

MacNamara A, Button A and Collins DJ (2010a) The Role of Psychological Characteristics in Facilitating the Pathway to Elite Performance Part 1: Identifying Mental Skills and Behaviors. The Sport Psychologist, 24, p52 – 73

MacNamara A, Button A and Collins DJ (2010b) The Role of Psychological Characteristics in Facilitating the Pathway to Elite Performance. Part 2: Examining Environmental and Stage-Related Differences in Skills and Behaviors. The Sport Psychologist, 24, p74 - 96

MacNamara A and Collins DJ (2011): Development and initial validation of the Psychological Characteristics of Developing Excellence Questionnaire, Journal of Sports Sciences, 29:12, p1273 – 1286.

MacNamara A and Collins D (2013) Do mental skills make champions? Examining the discriminant function of the psychological characteristics of developing excellence questionnaire. Journal of Sports Sciences, 31 (7), p736 – 744

MacNamara A and Collins DJ (2015) Profiling, Exploiting, and Countering Psychological Characteristics in Talent Identification and Development. The Sport Psychologist. 29, p73 – 81

MacNamara A and Collins DL (2017) A smooth sea never made a skilful sailor. Optimizing and exploiting the rocky road in talent development in Baker (2017) Routledge handbook of talent identification and development in sport, Chapter 24, p336 - 345

Madigan DJ (2016) Confirmatory factor analysis of the Multidimensional Inventory of Perfectionism in Sport. Psychology of Sport and Exercise. 26, p48 – 51

Miller PK, Cronin C and Baker G (2015) Nurture, nature and some very dubious social skills: an interpretative phenomenological analysis of talent identification practices in elite English youth soccer. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, p1 -21

Noon MR, James RS, Clarke ND, Akubat I & Thake CD (2015) Perceptions of well-being and physical performance in English elite youth footballers across a season. Journal of Sports Sciences 33 (20) p1 – 10

Ong CW, McGregor P and Daley C (2018) The boy behind the bravado: Player advanced safety and support in a professional football academy setting. Sport and Exercise Psychology Review, 14 (1) p1 - 30

Orlick T and Partington J (1988) Mental Links to Excellence. The Sport Psychologist 2, p105 – 130

Pallant J (2016) SPSS Survival Manual. McGraw Hill Education.

www.psychometrica.de/effect_size.html [date accessed 23/6/21]

Roe C and Parker A (2016) Sport, chaplaincy and holistic support: The elite player performance plan (EPPP) in English professional football. Practical Theology, 9 (3) p169 –182

Rongen F, Till K, Mckenna J, Tee JC and Cobley S (2020) Psychosocial outcomes associated with soccer academy involvement: Longitudinal comparisons against aged matched school pupils. Journal of Sports Sciences8 (11 – 12) p1387 - 1398

Ryan RM and Deci EL (2000) Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55, p68 – 78

Sagar SS (2009) Fear of failure in youth sport: Building on the momentum of the new research. Sport and Exercise Psychology Review, 5 (1), p5 – 15

Sagar SS and Stoeber J (2009) Perfectionism, Fear of Failure, and Affective Responses to Success and Failure: The Central Role of Fear of Experiencing Shame and Embarrassment. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 31, p602 - 627

Sarmento H, Anguera MT, Pereira A and Araujo D (2018) Talent Identification and Development in Male Football: a Critical Review. Sport Medicine, 48, p 907 – 931

Saward C, Morris JG, Nevill ME and Sunderland C (2019) Effect of playing/ maturity status & playing position on development of match skills in elite youth football players aged 11-18 years: a mixed-longitudinal study

Sothern NA and O’Gorman J (2021): Exploring the mental health and wellbeing of professional academy footballers in England. Soccer & Society p1 – 14

Stoeber J and Janssen DP (2011) Perfectionism and coping with daily failures: positive reframing helps achieve satisfaction at the end of the day. Anxiety, Stress, & Coping. 24 (5), p477 - 497

Taylor J and Collins D (2020) The Highs and the Lows – Exploring the Nature of Optimally Impactful Development Experiences on the Talent Pathway. The Sport Psychologist 34 (4), p319 – 328

Taylor J and Collins D (2021) Navigating the Winds of Change on the Smooth Sea - The Interaction of feedback and emotional disruption on the talent pathway, Journal of Applied Sport Psychology

Taylor SE and Stanton AL (2007) Coping Resources, Coping Processes, and Mental Health. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology 3 p377 – 401

Till K and Baker J (2020) Challenges and [Possible] Solutions to Optimising Talent Identification and Development in Sport. Frontiers in Psychology DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00664 [date accessed 4/3/21]

Toering T and Jordet G (2015) Self-Control in Professional Soccer Players. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 27 p335 – 350

Van Yperen NW (2009) Why Some Make It and Others Do Not: Identifying Psychological Factors That Predict Career Success in Professional Adult Soccer. The Sport Psychologist, 23 p317 – 329

Vealey RS, Cooley R, Nilsson E, Block C and Galli N (2019) Assessment and the Use of Questionnaires in Sport Psychology Consulting: An Analysis of Practices and Attitudes From 2003 to 2017 Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology, 13, p505 – 523

Wattie N and Baker J (2017) Why conceptualizations of talent matter. Implications for skill acquisition and talent identification and development. In Routledge Handbook of Talent Identification and Development in Sport (Eds. Baker J, Cobley S, Schorer J and Wattie N). Routledge. Chapter 6, p68 – 78

Wilkinson RJ (2021) A literature review exploring the mental health issues in academy football players following career termination due to deselection or injury and how counselling could support future players. Counselling Psychotherapy Research 00 p1 – 10

Williams G and MacNamara Á (2020) “I Didn’t Make It, but…”: Deselected Athletes’ Experiences of the Talent Development Pathway. Frontiers in Sports and Active Living 2 (24), p1 - 13

Downloads

Additional Files

Posted

2021-11-21